“Can you recommend me a BB Cream?”
“What BB Creams do you like?”
“Why don’t you talk about BB Creams?”
Just a few questions I get off and on about this mysterious Asian German invention – BB Creams.
BB Creams – Just what are they?
Just quickly, for the uninitiated. BB Creams or Blemish Balm is something that started was popularized in Korea (Update: but started in Germany). It was formulated to be a foundation, sunscreen and moisturizer all in one and was apparently formulated for women who had undergone skin laser treatment.
After undergoing laser treatment, your skin is thinned and need lots of protection from the sun. But these women couldn’t do without their foundation! So, some intrepid skin doctors came up with the idea of having an all in one product they could tout to their patients and thus, Blemish Balms or BB Creams were born.
Many women in Asia swear that it helps them with their acne problems or skin problems. It is also easy – just apply 1 product instead of applying 3.
Yet, I actually also read somewhere (gosh! I forget where!) that they are called Blemish Balms or BB Creams because Koreans find it hard to pronounce “Tinted Moisturizers” which these products essentially are. Don’t shoot the messenger! 😛
BB Creams tend to be too oily
Anyway, I’ve tried BB Creams from Etude House, Missha and Skin79. I didn’t like any because I found all of them too oily. I will have a caveat here. In the tropics where I live, the formula of BB Creams might be a bit heavy because they are formulated for use mainly in Korea where the air is much drier. If I were living in a dry climate, I might like it. As it stands, I’m not much of a fan. Its the same with liquid foundation. I steer clear of liquid foundation that is oil based or have heavy coverage because I just know I’d hate it. There are exceptions of course – some like Ecobeau BB Cream actually feels matte on the skin, and the Lancome BB base too doesn’t feel too oily.
All-in-One : Master of none
Another thing is that I’m not much into the “all-in-one” style of doing things. I don’t find it a hassle to layer my moisturizer, sunscreen and foundation. Its routine for me. So, its no use selling me an “all-in-one” product because it does not appeal to me. Experience also tells me that “all-in-one” products tend to be a jack of all trades and master of none.
So just like shampoo and conditioner, I like keeping my products separate. I believe that specific products targeted at specific needs work better than 1 product that claims to work for everything.
Color Selection
I don’t know many Korean women but I do wonder if the colour selection of BB Creams are targeted at them. Very few Asian women have a grey skin tone and many BB Creams have a grey cast. Its all quite odd. Colour selection is for the most part small so those with darker skin tone will not be able to use BB Creams – but I understand that because in Korea, I don’t think skintones vary by very much there. I have tried some with a yellow tint but those tend to make me look orange. In fact, from my experience, grey tones actually work better than yellow toned BB Creams (for me)
But it must be a good thing – Western brands are getting on the act!
I must admit that although I started out a bit meh about the Lancome BB Cream sunscreen thingy, I now rather like it used as a makeup base. I use it as tinted sunscreen – primarily as sunscreen. It helps even out skin tone a little but then I still layer on my powder foundation as normal. It helps the skin look much smoother. I do find that the texture feels different from the Korean or Asian BB creams. Its not as thick and its not as oily.
MAC Cosmetics too has a BB Cream launched but I haven’t tried that one. And its come to my knowledge that Estee Lauder has a BB Cream too! Both are not available in Malaysia or in many countries (for now) and I’m told the MAC BB Cream is sold primarily at airports or duty free where there is a MAC counter. We might see the Estee Lauder one come in next year – I’ll keep you updated.
The common trend among these 3 based on what I’ve read online and from my experience with the Lancome one, is that the Western brand BB Creams look and behave more like tinted sunscreen. What Lancome and Estee Lauder have done is to put tint into their sunscreen. It will be interesting to try the MAC and Estee Lauder one though. I’ll report if I do 🙂
With 3 big Western brands already riding the bandwagon, I’m not surprised if some of the other brands start hitching a ride. BB Creams look to be here to stay!
Will you change your mind about BB Creams?
Yes. I am woman after all and fickle 😛
3 years down the road, if I’m still blogging, I might pick up my newest Holy Grail BB Cream and think “Did I ever NOT love BB Creams?! The horror!” and I’ll run back here and tell you about it. But its been 3 years since I started blogging, and 3 years since BB Creams entered our radar with a crash boom bang and I’m still not smitten.
Not even tempted.
Not yet.
And this lovelies, is why I don’t talk (much) about BB Creams 🙂 Please feel free to change my mind 🙂
Paris B
I’ve tried using BB cream to replace my foundation but found it a bit too sheer for me and no coverage and yeah oily too. I’ve also tried using it as a base/primer, then foundation over it, not too keen on that as well. You just have to play around with it a bit and see how it can work for you. I use Skin79, the Oriental one. The best way I’ve found to work for me is to apply the BB cream as a base, then apply powder/mineral foundation. This way my powder foundation stays and I get more coverage. I could never do powder foundation as I have oily skin, so this way works.
Even then I would still not consider it a ‘must’ item in my make up collection. In fact, will not repurchase.
Oh I do the same thing with the Lancome BB Base. I use it as a base and then I apply my Dior Nude powder foundation over it which gives it a very pretty flawless look 🙂
I agree with most of Jasmine’s posts.
When I first tested Skin 79’s Hot Pink BB Cream, I wasn’t sure that I liked it. I thought it broke me out but that turned out to be my new moisturizer that was at fault. Serves me right for testing two new products at the same time!
I don’t use the BB cream as an all in one product. I still apply my serum and moisturizer before the BB cream. I don’t find it any more oilier than normal and strangely, this BB cream suits my skin tone to a T! I’ve been looking around for the perfect shade of foundation to no avail until the BB cream came along. That was a major plus point, obviously. Also, I find that it has a more natural finish without the cakey effect … I like the word Jasmine used:”airbrushed”
I purchased 3 tubes of the sample seized ones before committing to the full sized bottle and that bottle has last me nearly a year! I’ve just repurchased so I guess it is of those things that seem to work for me.
Great to hear from another happy BB Cream user. Its pretty interesting how the products work so differently for different people 🙂
bb cream is the to good cream to our all skin type it provides 17 things in one it is not to oily i am indian i tried it provides me good skin texture withening etc
BB cream is a really good concealer for my very obvious dark circles. My must have item during photo shoot. It works better than Laura Mercier’s secret concealer. I have tanned skin and so need to use darker loose powder to match with the BB cream.
Skin 79 is not that long lasting and make me look paler. I’m using Zino and O’slee now. Both are pretty good for my very oily skin. Without loose powder, my face will become too shiny after long hours wearing BB cream. But my testing result found that Zino is better because no residue of colour will appear from the morning to night.
I tried a BB cream ‘strongly recommended’ by an SA in SASA. She kept insisting that the greyish cast it put on my face was my imagination. She said my “dull” face looks soooo much better in that BB cream! I think these ladies in SASA are so pushy and to tell lies to get you to purchase something is downright low! Sorry…needed to rant a little.
I particularly agree with your all-in-one, master of none point!!
I did a calculation on the amount effectiveness that certain ingredients need to have to generate a visible effect, such as hyaluronic acid, titanium/zinc oxide, nianciamide, vitamin E.
Including emollients, it is not very possible to produce a cream which is truly effective in all areas like sunscreen, moisturizing, pimple/scar healing, whitening etc, by pure virtue of the fact that there is only 100%.
Simply put, if one would like to have all 5-8 effects in one, yes, the manufacturer can still give it to you, but you’d have to slap on one tablespoonful of BB cream.
Yet in all essence of BB Cream, it’s supposed to be a lightweight foundation as well, meaning, most of them only require on to use a green bean size, the way I would squeeze a liquid foundation… …
I have oily skin and also living near you, I found that Tony Moly BB Expert Triple Blemish Balm Cream SPF 45, PA+++ is the best for me. It’s not oily. It offer very slightly coverage but that’s alright for my skin.
It keep my make up on my face longer and does not feel heavy.
I’ve been using the Simply 5 Cream (which is a BB Cream) from Siti Nurhaliza’s SimplySiti brand after working with them on a project… So far it’s been quite good with oil control and gives and nice dewy-glowy look, but I have to apply moisturiser first or else my skin flakes a little. It’s not a perfect all-in-one product, but for RM49.90 I’m not complaining. 🙂
Tried a sample of Bioessence’s BB Cream and the oil slick was worse than BP! Plus it made me break out quite badly. Glad I didn’t spend money on that one!
I have always been a fan of BB cream because I don’t like the heavy coverage by liquid foundation, it feels like its suffocating my skin. I have been using Etude House Magic BB Cream for quite a while now and I am actually loving it. I have seen quite a handful of reviews about it being really oily but I think its perfect for my skin because my skin is really dry, especially during winter. But I might change my mind when summer arrives.I still use my moisturizer underneath too. 🙂
Another reason why I love my BB cream, I could just apply it using my hands and blend it out evenly without needing a brush cos I am lazy like this. lol.
Hi! I’ve been a silent reader of our blog for awhile but this post caught my eye because personally, I love BB creams and swear by them. My father and his Korean counterpart are the ones responsible for introducing Skin Food into Malaysia so I have the opportunity of trying out all the BB creams available without burning a huge whole in my pocket! First of all, I understand what you mean about the colour selection of BB creams being somewhat limited. For the darker skinned ladies, it’s almost impossible to find a BB cream that will match your skin! However, the Skin Food BB creams do NOT have a grey tinge to them, I can swear by that because I’ve tried them all except for the Mushroom BB cream! Lol. My personal favourite is the Gingko Green BB cream in #2. I find that that particular one doesn’t make me oily at all as long as I set it with a light loose powder. However, this particular BB cream doesn’t have sunscreen so I usually just forego it altogether. (Oooops!) As for its skin repairing properties, unfortunately, I can’t give a personal account on that because I have good skin and there is nothing for the BB cream to repair. I use it more to even out my skin tone without looking like I have makeup on because BB creams are nice and sheer while giving you some coverage and without clogging your pores. However, my mum uses the Mushroom BB cream and she says she cannot live without it anymore because she’s noticed that it’s made her skin more supple. Sorry this comment is so long and rambly! I plan on doing a full review on BB cream on my blog soon so if you’re interested, you can check that out. 🙂
oh. i just wanted to say, i went to korea this summer (for 3 months)
and it was NOT DRY!!!
it was the heaviest, dampest air. ever. period.
just so you know. lol
Does anyone know a bb cream which suits caucasian light skin with cool/neutral undertones and some redness? I have normal/dry skin. I m interested in trying!
It’s called blemish balm because it originated from Germany. Has nothing to do with pronunciation.
BB creams are not just tinted moisturizers as the creams have a healing effect in addition to makeup and moisturizing.
Actually I feel tinted moisturizer is way different from bb cream. First, tinted moisturizer is very light, almost no coverage, don’t stay on very long and the color changes when exposes in air for too long. BB cream has done a great job for me (not all of them) because I didn’t really need to use a base + foundation crap (though I still use all of my skincare , etc. ). Maybe you just haven’t find the one you like. BTW, I’ve tried several western bb creams, all of them had failed and it seems like western marketing teams want to promote bb creams more like a base (primer)… I guess I’ll stick with my current ones